Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski
Encyclopedia
Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński (better known by his pen name
, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński; December 21, 1874 – July 4, 1941) was a Polish
stage writer, poet, critic above all, and translator of over 100 French literary classics
into Polish
. He was a pediatritian and gynecologist by profession.
A notable personality in the Young Poland
movement, Boy was the enfant terrible of the Polish literary scene in the first half of the 20th century. He was murdered in July 1941 during the Nazi occupation of Poland in what became known as the massacre of Lviv professors.
Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński (of the Ciołek coat-of-arms) was born December 21, 1874, in Warsaw
, to Wanda, née Grabowska, and Władysław Żeleński, a prominent composer and musician. Tadeusz's cousin was the notable Polish neo-romantic
poet Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer
. Because higher education in Polish was forbidden in Warsaw under the Russian rule
, in 1892 Żeleński left for Kraków
, in Austrian-ruled Galicia, where he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University
medical school.
Completing his studies in 1900, Żeleński began medical practice as a pediatrician. In 1906 he opened a practice as a gynaecologist, which gave him financial freedom. The same year, he co-organised the famous Zielony Balonik
("Green Balloon") cabaret
, which gathered notable personalities of Polish culture, including his brother Edward and Jan August Kisielewski
, Stanisław Kuczborski (painter)
, Witold Noskowski, Stanisław Sierosławski, Rudolf Starzewski, Edward Leszczyński, Teofil Trzcińki, Karol Frycz, Ludwik Puget, Kazimierz Sichulski, Jan Skotnicki, Feliks Jasieński and Zenon Pruszyński.
In the sketches, poems, satirical songs, and short stories that he wrote for Zielony Balonik, Boy-Żeleński criticized and mocked the conservative authorities and the two-faced morality of the city folk, but also the grandiloquent style of Młoda Polska and Kraków's bohemia
ns. This earned him a reputation as the "enfant terrible" of Polish literature.
, Żeleński was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army
and served as medic to railway troops. After the war, he returned to Poland and, in 1922, moved to Warsaw. He did not return to his medical practice but instead focused entirely on writing.
Working for various dailies and magazines, Boy-Żeleński soon became one of the authorities of the Polish liberal and democratic intelligentsia
. He criticized the two-faced morality of the clergy, promoted the secularization of public life and culture, and was one of the strongest advocates for the equality of women. He was one of the first public figures in Poland to support abortion
. Also, Boy-Żeleński often fought in his essays against the Polish romantic tradition, which he saw as irrational and as seriously distorting the way Polish society thought about its past.
In addition, Boy translated over 100 classics of French literature
, which ever since have been considered among the best translations of foreign literature into Polish
. In 1933, Boy-Żeleński was admitted to the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature.
, Boy-Żeleński moved to Soviet-occupied Lwów, where he stayed with his wife's brother-in-law. In Lviv, Boy joined the Soviet-led University as the head of the Department of French Literature. Criticized by many for his public and frequent collaboration with the Soviet occupation forces, he maintained contacts with many prominent professors and artists, who found themselves in the city after the Polish Defensive War
. He also took part in creating the Communist propaganda newspaper Czerwony Sztandar (Red Banner
) and became one of the prominent members of the Society of Polish Writers.
After Nazi Germany broke the Nazi-Soviet Alliance and attacked the USSR and the Soviet-held Polish Kresy
, Boy remained in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine). The city was captured on the night of July 4, 1941, and he was arrested and taken to the Wulka hills, where he was murdered for being "a Soviet spy," together with 45 other Polish professors, artists and intelligentsia in what became known as the massacre of Lviv professors.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński; December 21, 1874 – July 4, 1941) was a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
stage writer, poet, critic above all, and translator of over 100 French literary classics
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
into Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. He was a pediatritian and gynecologist by profession.
A notable personality in the Young Poland
Young Poland
Young Poland is a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the ideas of Positivism...
movement, Boy was the enfant terrible of the Polish literary scene in the first half of the 20th century. He was murdered in July 1941 during the Nazi occupation of Poland in what became known as the massacre of Lviv professors.
Biography and early writing career
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, to Wanda, née Grabowska, and Władysław Żeleński, a prominent composer and musician. Tadeusz's cousin was the notable Polish neo-romantic
Young Poland
Young Poland is a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the ideas of Positivism...
poet Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer
Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer
Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer was a Polish poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and writer. He was a member of the Young Poland movement.-Life:...
. Because higher education in Polish was forbidden in Warsaw under the Russian rule
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, in 1892 Żeleński left for Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, in Austrian-ruled Galicia, where he enrolled at the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
medical school.
Completing his studies in 1900, Żeleński began medical practice as a pediatrician. In 1906 he opened a practice as a gynaecologist, which gave him financial freedom. The same year, he co-organised the famous Zielony Balonik
Zielony Balonik
Zielony Balonik was a popular literary cabaret founded in Kraków by the local poets, writers and artists during the final years of the Partitions of Poland. The venue was a gourmet restaurant of Apolinary J. Michalik called the Michalik's Den...
("Green Balloon") cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
, which gathered notable personalities of Polish culture, including his brother Edward and Jan August Kisielewski
Jan August Kisielewski
Jan August Kisielewski , brother of Zygmunt, was a Polish writer, essayist and playwright, co-founder of the legendary literary cabaret Zielony Balonik in Kraków during the final years of the Partitions of Poland....
, Stanisław Kuczborski (painter)
Stanisław Kuczborski (painter)
Stanisław Kuczborski was a Polish modernist painter, graphic artist and caricaturists. His mother, Klotylda Kuczborska was a sister of renown painters Aleksander Gierymski and Maksymilian Gierymski...
, Witold Noskowski, Stanisław Sierosławski, Rudolf Starzewski, Edward Leszczyński, Teofil Trzcińki, Karol Frycz, Ludwik Puget, Kazimierz Sichulski, Jan Skotnicki, Feliks Jasieński and Zenon Pruszyński.
In the sketches, poems, satirical songs, and short stories that he wrote for Zielony Balonik, Boy-Żeleński criticized and mocked the conservative authorities and the two-faced morality of the city folk, but also the grandiloquent style of Młoda Polska and Kraków's bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
ns. This earned him a reputation as the "enfant terrible" of Polish literature.
World War I, Interbellum
At the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Żeleński was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
and served as medic to railway troops. After the war, he returned to Poland and, in 1922, moved to Warsaw. He did not return to his medical practice but instead focused entirely on writing.
Working for various dailies and magazines, Boy-Żeleński soon became one of the authorities of the Polish liberal and democratic intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
. He criticized the two-faced morality of the clergy, promoted the secularization of public life and culture, and was one of the strongest advocates for the equality of women. He was one of the first public figures in Poland to support abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. Also, Boy-Żeleński often fought in his essays against the Polish romantic tradition, which he saw as irrational and as seriously distorting the way Polish society thought about its past.
In addition, Boy translated over 100 classics of French literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
, which ever since have been considered among the best translations of foreign literature into Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. In 1933, Boy-Żeleński was admitted to the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature.
World War II
After the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Boy-Żeleński moved to Soviet-occupied Lwów, where he stayed with his wife's brother-in-law. In Lviv, Boy joined the Soviet-led University as the head of the Department of French Literature. Criticized by many for his public and frequent collaboration with the Soviet occupation forces, he maintained contacts with many prominent professors and artists, who found themselves in the city after the Polish Defensive War
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
. He also took part in creating the Communist propaganda newspaper Czerwony Sztandar (Red Banner
Red Banner
Red Banner was a symbol of the USSR associated with the Soviet state flag.Military units, institutions and organizations awarded with the Order of the Red Banner are referred to with the honorific title "of the Red Banner" Red Banner was a symbol of the USSR associated with the Soviet state...
) and became one of the prominent members of the Society of Polish Writers.
After Nazi Germany broke the Nazi-Soviet Alliance and attacked the USSR and the Soviet-held Polish Kresy
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
, Boy remained in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine). The city was captured on the night of July 4, 1941, and he was arrested and taken to the Wulka hills, where he was murdered for being "a Soviet spy," together with 45 other Polish professors, artists and intelligentsia in what became known as the massacre of Lviv professors.
See also
- Polish literaturePolish literaturePolish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
- List of Poles
- Culture of KrakówCulture of KrakówKraków is considered by many to be the cultural capital of Poland. It was named the European Capital of Culture by European Union for the year 2000. The city has some of the best museums in the country and several famous theaters...
- Zielony BalonikZielony BalonikZielony Balonik was a popular literary cabaret founded in Kraków by the local poets, writers and artists during the final years of the Partitions of Poland. The venue was a gourmet restaurant of Apolinary J. Michalik called the Michalik's Den...
- Wpływologia
- List of physician writers (19th century)
- Żelenski, in: The Historical Geography of the Ciołek clan AD 950-1950.